De Villiers out, Raina in; India bat first

Toss: JP Duminy, the South Africa captain, won the toss and opted to bowl against India in the first Twenty20 International at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday (February 18).

Team news

South Africa: JP Duminy will captain the side in absence of the injured Faf du Plessis. AB de Villiers, who injured his knee ahead of the final ODI, has bene ruled out of the three-match series. Heinrich Klaasen and Junior Dala both make their T20I debut. JJ Smuts and Reeza Hendricks are the openers.

India: Suresh Raina comes back into the side after over a year. Kuldeep Yadav sits out with a thumb injury, making way for Jaydev Unadkat. Bhuvneshwar Kumar returns after being rested for the final ODI, and Manish Pandey gets his first game of the tour.

What they said

JP Duminy: We’re going to bowl, it’s always easier to chase here. AB de Villiers hurt his knee and is out. Quite a new faces in the side. Heinrich Klaasen makes his T20I debut, Junior Dala comes in too. It’s time for the refresh button.

Virat Kohli: We wanted to bowl first as well. It looks like a gun wicket. We expect the ball to come on nicely to the bat. Suresh Raina is back in the team, Manish Pandey gets a game as well. Kuldeep Yadav hurt his thumb and Jaydev Unadkat comes in. Bhuvneshwar Kumar coming in as well. As a team, the intensity becomes much higher. Keeping it simple has worked for us. The confidence is high in the dressing room.

Series: India will be high on confidence after scripting a historic series win in South Africa by a thumping 5-1 margin in the preceding One-Day Internationals. Under the leadership of the experienced JP Duminy, South Africa will hope to fare better in the T20Is than they managed under young Aiden Markram in the ODIs.

Conditions: It’s mostly bright and sunny in Johannesburg and the chances of showers are minimal. The pitch seems batting-friendly.

Cricket Writers

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